A whistle off in the distance caused the welcoming committee to let up. They loped down the driveway toward Mr. Liu and she followed them.
“What have you found?” he asked the shepherds gently. My colon. He stopped stroking their heads and noticed Lily fifteen feet away sitting in his driveway. Seth had failed to mention the dogs to her. The fanged sentries would make a quick escape impossible should she sense danger.
Except for the fact that Mr. Liu was Chinese, Lily felt like she was in a Western standoff. He stood with his feet apart hands at his hips. She stood with her paws apart a whole nine inches tall. This wasn’t like a Western at all. One command from Liu and she was a Chinese dumpling to the two guard dogs.
“Xiaoyi?” He called her “little one,” a term he had used since she was a small girl. She bolted down the driveway and leapt into his arms, licking his face and crying pitifully into his neck. He reminded her of her dad. Of course she could trust him. What was wrong with Seth?
He placed her on the ground then looked down gravely. He bowed. She attempted to return the bow, which put her in a “down” position. He giggled, catching Lily off-guard. She smiled with her tongue hanging out.
He became serious quickly. “Come Lily. I fear you are in great danger. There is much to discuss.”
Lily hesitated, cocked her head, and eyed him. Maybe I shouldn’t be here.
“I assume the young man in the hospital with dog bites and deep gashes is your work?” He stood with his legs together, his head slightly down and his brows elevated, assessing her, but not judging.
“Wes,” she grumbled.
“I may be the only person who can help you. What choice do you have other than to trust me?”
She didn’t entirely agree with his reasoning, but she’d come this far, she’d see this adventure through to the end. She trotted toward him with her black and white tail swinging in the air and followed him toward the house. The horses in the fenced corral nickered at her as she barked and leapt against the railroad ties.
“Lily, control!” ordered Mr. Liu. She snapped back to his side. They turned the corner of his ranch house and headed for a separate building, a new addition built in the back of the main home. It matched the gray siding of the ranch house. The front was predominately composed of glass.
“Welcome to my studio,” he said, as he opened the sliding door. She walked in to find a padded floor like a yoga studio. However, a yoga studio wouldn’t have glass and metal cases containing various martial arts weapons lining the walls.
He took her behind a bamboo screen where he handed her what looked like blue-gray pajamas. “It’s a Shaolin uniform,” he said. “Better communication if you are a person,” he smiled.
She was pondering how to warn him about the peculiar sound she made when shifting, when he walked to the glass door and stepped outside, providing her privacy. The room was rather tranquil despite the lethal weapons surrounding her. After shifting, she donned the Shaolin gear and opened the glass door for him.
He walked to a teak cabinet in the corner. He pulled several documents, books, and a box from the shelf and brought them to the one small table in the room. Here the soft floor ended and bamboo floors continued. She sat down in the chair across from him.
“Only dog?” he asked.
“Wings too,” she whispered.
“Ah, flying Shih Tzu,” The corners of his mouth turned up. One look at her face halted his mirth. He cleared his throat and became somber. “We’ll talk about your shifting in a minute. First, I must tell you about your grandmother. She is fading.” If Lily had known her grandmother, it would have been devastating. As it was, she still felt like someone had punched a small hole in her chest.
“I am sorry for you and your brother that you did not know her. The urgency of your situation makes my directness necessary. Your grandmother sent you an invaluable package for me to keep in my care. She included a note stating that she trusted I would know when to give it to you.”
He grabbed the wooden box and tilted it to reveal a combination lock. Mr. Liu rolled in each digit on the lock until it clicked open.
“It is your mother’s date of birth.”
“I can remember that,” she said, leaning in closer. Inside the box was a blue velvet jewelry case.
After placing it on the table, he pushed it across to her. “It should keep things in balance.”
Her palms became clammy.
“I need you to open that, Liling.” His face was stern, yet sorrowful at the same time, making her want to cry.
Prying open the lid, she gasped as she gazed upon an exquisite locket on a thick gold chain. A beautiful bird was intricately engraved in the gold. The surface appeared to glow. She reached across to touch it.
Whooooooossh.
When she woke up, she was flat on her back. This is becoming redundant. Lily vowed to herself that the next time she was in this position it would be for something pleasurable. The back of her head throbbed where it had struck the floor. All she wanted to do was close her eyes to make the pain go away, but she made herself stay awake.
“Good Lily. Good,” Mr. Liu encouraged from above. His head appeared inflated like a balloon at the Macy’s Day Parade. As his face came into focus, she heard him exhale loudly. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.
I’ve walked into some Chinese terrorist’s lair. Which part of psychotic did I not pick up on? Instead, she had admired the lethal weapons like they were a seashell collection.
He helped her sit up. Dazed, she stared at him.
“Xiaoyi, you have done well,” he said with tears in his eyes. Then he bowed to her as he never had before. She knew it was disrespectful not to return a lower bow, but her butt stayed glued to the floor, her whole body heavy.
A tingling sensation caused her to glance down at her chest. She was wearing the necklace. The feeling was similar to Vick’s vapor rub and the more she inhaled its essence, the better she could breathe.
“What just happened?”
“Thank Buddha, you passed the final exam,” he said perching a pair of reading glasses on his nose.
Panicked, she looked to him for an explanation. She hated not being prepared for a test. “Mr. Lui, what would have happened if I had failed?”
He shuddered, “Oh, no matter now. See, you and the crucible are in balance.”
“Crucible?” she asked.
“Very few can wear it. It’s sacred. There has not been balance in almost a century. At least that’s what the letter said.” He pulled her to her feet. After uprighting the table, he pulled out another chair for her. Her thigh muscles trembled as she sat down. He plucked a loose document off the floor and placed it in front of her.
“I’ll go get us some tea from the kitchen.” He walked down a short hall and ducked into a doorway on the left. There were now three functioning wooden chairs. The one she had originally been seated in was shredded into teak splinters, which were scattered about the room. A scorch mark the size of her body bruised the wood floor.
Still woozy from the blast, her eyes had difficulty focusing when she turned her attention to the Chinese characters on the paper with singed edges. This must be Waipo’s letter. Too bad Lily couldn’t read Chinese.
Mr. Liu returned to the room, paying no mind to the pulverized chair. “Have some dark rose tea that your grandmother sent. You’ll feel better.”
Screw the tea, I need a drink. She studied him then with his black exercise pants and loose-fitting white t-shirt. The great Kung Fu guy serving her rose tea certainly gave her pause.
“It’s black tea from Hunan Province. Try it,” he said.
She did drink the tea. He was right.
“Most of what I know is from this letter. Your father seldom spoke of your mother’s family, but when he did, they were always interesting stories.” He pushed the letter aside and opened a worn leather book to a page with a bird on it. “Fenghuang.”
“Is that a phoenix?” she queried.
> “No. Different. It is two birds. One male, feng and one female, huang. They are often shown together facing each other, representing the balance of yang and yin.”
“Fenghuang. Isn’t that the city where Waipo lives?”
“Fenghuang Cheng is the name of your grandmother’s village along the Tuojiang River. The legend tells that two of these birds flew over it and found the town so beautiful that they hovered there, reluctant to leave.”
“I remember seeing gardens.”
“Yes, and mountains,” said Mr. Liu wistfully. He poured more of the reddish-brown tea that filled Lily’s senses with smoky malt and roses before focusing back on the story. “Chinese tradition says that the fenghuang nests far away from humans in the Kunlun Mountains, in wutong trees. It only comes out during times of peace and prosperity. Unlike the West’s version of the phoenix that dies and is reborn, the fenghuang doesn’t die, but is immortal. Pictures depicting the male and female together are symbolic of eternal love.”
Waiting patiently for the punch line, Lily rolled her head and shoulders to pop her neck. The tingling continued to radiate from the crucible into her chest, spreading warm rushes through every cell of her body. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, just foreign.
“Modern times have merged the bird into one female who is paired with a dragon, which represents yang.”
Thinking of her wings, she asked, “Do you think I’m like this.”
“No, Lily. You are something different. Perhaps a hybrid of some kind due to your father’s genes.”
“What kind of bird am I?”
He shrugged. “You are a protector, almost like a warrior. That is why you had the reaction when you touched the necklace. The fenghuang is, well, a myth. A good story. I don’t know that such a shapeshifter exists. But it symbolizes so much. That’s why it’s engraved on this powerful...necklace.”
Swell.
“Will the necklace blow me up every time I touch it?” she asked staring cross-eyed down her nose. Was she wearing a live grenade around her neck?
“No, it knows you now and has established balance.” At that moment, the locket emitted a red glow. “Ooooh.” He looked surprised by the light.
“Uh, what’s it doing, Mr. Liu?”
“Interesting,” he responded.
“I—I think there’s something inside this locket.”
“It’s impossible,” he said.
“What’s impossible? Mr. Liu, I’m trying to keep it together here. Am I going to explode again?”
“No. No, I don’t think so.”
“What does the red mean?”
“Red? Why red means happiness and good fortune.”
“Really. ’Cuz my thought is that red can be seen as anger,” Lily said, her voice trembling.
“Oh, no. Even in ancient times, red was used to drive off evil spirits. It’s okay.”
“No, no,” Lily said shaking her head. “Darth Vader had the red light saber. Hello, he was evil.” The pulsing sped up, vibrating her breastbone.
“Hmmmm.”
Lily looked to Li Liu in utter astonishment. Is he going to just sit here and let us explode? She couldn’t take it any longer; she grabbed the locket and closed her eyes. A jolt hit her, followed by a warm rush that flowed through her veins.
The red light went out.
“Im-poss-ible,” Liu said.
“What the hell is going on!?”
Mr. Liu reached across the table to the worn wooden box with the combination lock. He slid it in front of Lily. She hadn’t paid attention to the top of it before.
“Fucanglong, the dragon of hidden treasure,” he said.
Lily glanced down at the painted dragon. Something in her stirred.
“Your grandmother sent you a priceless gift. Guard it with your life.”
Lily exhaled. Now she wanted to open the locket. She turned it over in her hand, studying the crease.
“I wouldn’t try that just yet,” he said.
Now you finally look scared! “What happens if others touch it?” she asked.
“According to the letter, regular humans won’t have any problem, but shapeshifters with the wrong essence could be blown to bits.”
Silently outraged that he had risked her life for his sheer curiosity, she grimaced at him.
He patted her hand. “I knew it would be okay Lily, before I gave it to you.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. How did you know?”
“Gut feeling,” he said jovially. His black reading glasses remained slightly askew.
She let it go. He was her elder and he seemed so pleased with himself that she would feel like a scoundrel if she protested. “Do you have a picture of what I am?”
“Oh no, no Lily,” he said, brusquely closing the book. “No pictures for you. We will have to wait and see.”
“Mr. Liu, you said that I am in danger. What kind of danger?”
“I thought we established this. Someone is obviously trying to kill you.”
“Well, people around me. No one has specifically targeted me.”
He waited.
She told herself to breathe. She had come to him for comfort, protection, reassurance.
“Sorry Lily, but people are terrified of the unknown. They will want to destroy you out of fear. Second, you have power. There will always be corrupt individuals that want to exploit it then kill you. Finally, there are those who are competitive and threatened by your abilities. They will kill you for this.”
“Swell.” Thanks for the pep talk. Looking down at the crucible, she had a strong desire to remove it.
“You must not take it off Lily.”
“Even when I sleep and shower?”
“If you don’t wear it, keep it close.”
“What’s happening, Mr. Liu?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. It appears someone is attacking people close to you. It is imperative that you stay hidden.”
“You think Peter and Mona were killed because of me?” she asked.
“There is a strong possibility, but I don’t have the answers.”
“Do the police?”
He shook his head, his dark eyes sad. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is something they are equipped to handle.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“Train with me.”
“So I should stay here?”
“Sorry Lily, but that would be putting us both at risk. Stay where you are.”
After everything she had been through, this final blow to her fragile ego was almost too much. Nobody wanted her near; she was a liability. She didn’t mention the Manor or the hounds sniffing around her hideout.
He handed her his card. “Tomorrow you come back here to train.”
“I’m not sure that I can keep sneaking out with the motorcycle I borrowed.”
“I can pick you up at ten in the morning,” he said. “You name the place.”
“The children’s playground at Piedmont Park.”
“Perfect,” said Mr. Liu.
Lily wrote down her dog alias and new cell phone number for him. He walked partway down the driveway with her. Tonka and Spike darted to and fro trying to entice her into a game of chase. Apparently, to them, she was a dog whether walking on two legs or four.
Mr. Liu insisted she keep her Shaolin uniform. It would be her uniform during training. He looked down at the ground as if struggling with something. “Take care of your brother, Lily. He needs your help.”
“Seth?”
“Yes. Go now.” He gestured with his hand. She felt like a dog that had been shooed away.
Numb, she obeyed. Still in her Kung Fu pajamas, she donned her wig, leather jacket, helmet, and backpack. Her journey home on the bike wasn’t as eventful as her visit with Mr. Liu, except for losing Frank’s other loafer.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, she canvassed Ansley Park Manor to see if the coast was clear. After waiting for some neighborhood children to go into their backyard, she pulled into the dri
veway and parked the bike. She ran around to the back door, unlocked it with her new key, then opened the garage door. Her strength was growing each day. She had no difficulty maneuvering the bike back into its designated spot and pulling the tarp back in place.
After returning the backpack to its hiding spot behind the dryer, she shifted back to Tashi and waited for the boys to return. Seth came to mind several times, but she wasn’t ready to talk to him. Now she understood his misgivings about Li Liu. He was a puzzle. She had never been good at puzzles.
Lily fretted over her ill grandmother’s gift. Necklace was really a misnomer; it was a kickass tazer. If only she knew how it worked and what the heck was inside it.
Chapter 14
From the Lost Notes of Peter Marx
July 21, 2010
Subject T is experiencing limited response to oral Inderal and Dr. H. suggested a trial of injections to improve the response. I adamantly disagreed and let her know. I also let Subject T know that I thought this was dangerous. She is so desperate for some relief from her condition that she would do anything. She is such a sweet lady, I just want to help her.
Subject C is doing well on Inderal although he complains of periods of blackouts. This concerns me—again, I’m questioning the efficacy of its use in these shifters. We don’t know the long-term effects.
—Peter
Chapter 15
Caldwell’s Dream
The first thing he noticed was her pretty smile. The second thing he noticed was that she was naked. Okay maybe he noticed the nudity first. Lily sat on the bleachers of Grady High School’s football stadium. She reached out to touch his cheek, but he felt a scratch.
She looked at him in distress as she pulled her hand away. Caldwell noticed something wrong with her fingers—they were longer with claws.
First Born (Lily Moore Series) Page 10